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Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
             After sojourning millions of lives to completeness
             I awaken to such a sound of sweetness
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
             And substitute a nasty chat room
             Filling in an empty vacuum
Hare Rama Hare Rama
            The warrior very deep in you
            Is pushing for a successful coup
Rama Rama Hare Hare
           In establishing a good king and queen
           A restart, defining a new ‘clean’

I don’t mind crowds but there is a limit before feeling claustrophobic. The day prior in Stratford we had the pleasure of cramming in 200 of us Hare Krishnas in front of the City Hall. There is always pleasure in leading a kirtan chanting session which is what I did (with the gang) in front of the hall, and a special plus was being accompanied by trumpet, guitar, and djembe. However, you can only go for so long before you feel the crowd is too much.

To gain some space and downtime I decided i

Special guests have come. To start off I must mention Malati, a true stalwart of the Krishna Consciousness Movement. It is not her first time to the Vaishnava Sangha. Being that pioneer that she is, she captivates the audience with her stories of yesteryear, when ISKCON had its humble beginnings. But more particularly she tells us of the magnanimous ways in which the Founder of the Krishna movement, Prabhupada, engaged women and empowered them in ways that most people are not aware of.

Visiti

It was a day of joy. Three classes I gave today and one was a zoom call with a group of brahmacharis (monks) from different European countries. That is the good side of technology. I detected there were some monks on the other end of the line to be extrovert and some reserved. That’s natural. You get both. Our topic was “Real Relationships”. What triggered that subject is we see that at times spiritual practitioners can be rigid and fail to cultivate that more personal side. Everyone needs vali

“Being at a crossroads in life,” is what they say. Well, I was there, but it was a long time ago. I hit that intersection when I was 20, when I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with myself. What career should I pursue?” I couldn’t see me becoming a starving artist. Who would be my friend? Will I find a true lover? Or would I be content going totally solo? Should I go right or left? Maybe straight ahead? Going backwards was out of the question.

I met the guys in orange, men of the cloth. I di

Morning sun speaks saying, “Come on in. Bathe in my splendour!” I listened and so, that’s what I did. So from the corner of Jordan and Roy, where the Iskcon temple exists, I began walking a loop. Through this stroll I walked the edge of a park, went through a middle class residential, a retail shopping strip, back to the residential and to return where I started from. The diversity is fun but what remains consistent throughout, apart from swinging legs and arms, is the chanting - the utterance

I circled Sparta Lake one last time on this trip for four circumambulations, observing birds in pairs - the red-winged black bird, red cardinals, gold finches, ducks, geese. One single bird stood out alone - the heron, who is often like a hermit. There it was, single-pointed in thought, patient for a fish to appear. Well, I wasn’t patient enough to wait for a poisson to come as bait.

I was in a hurry with that last revolution of the lake. Haripad whisked me away for a drive to Pennsylvania an

The sun was attempting to burn through the fog. It succeeded although it brought on so little warmth to the day. At the Teaching Garden clear cups of corn substance were placed over the new seedlings. The chills of the last two days are unseasonable.

Personally I was charmed and warmed by the teacher in the garden Tapapunja, a disciple of Prabhupada, hails from north Michigan, but has been a resident of this village, New Vrindavana, for years. He is a true advocate of the motto “simple living

“You will have some physical complications in the future,” said Jagannath as he read my right palm. “Your lines indicate you are good at communication,” is what he concluded with after a quick glance.

Jagannath, now 93, has been a palm reader for most of his life. I remember how he would be so popular at the Chariot Fest in both Vancouver and Toronto. Those line-ups were huge. People are curious to know more about themselves, probing perhaps into the future. Reading palms is an ancient scienc

Rain bursts come and go in Mauritius. It is diverse as far as weather goes. We are striking it lucky at Belle Mara in the morning. We are enjoying the stars first, then the sun. A local monk, Bhakti Sundar Chaitanya Swami had joined us today, just in time for our Bhagavatam lesson.

A second swami came into my day. Dear friend BB Govinda Swami, formerly Ayodhya Pati, arrived yesterday and graciously accepted my visit. As usual we spoke about old times. He had already put time in with services

The Chariot Fest, also known as Ratha Yatra, is a successful one, considering the good attendance here in Durban since its inception 35 years ago. To throw together a great party by the local Durban Krishna Conscious community is a large undertaking. Funds must be raised, purchasing, cooking, decorating, securing permits, entertainers preparing, accommodating guests from abroad, transportation of goods and people etc.

I walked around the grounds to meet the organizers, out of my own interests

I have to say that it is not only rewarding to be of service in the thespian field but I’ve seen, in a positive way, here in South Africa, community theatre has really taken off. I first arrived in South Africa to help with the Festival of Chariots to provide drama in the year 2000. There was one young chap, Gopal, who was a natural. He went on to be an actor in Johannesburg and now an acting teacher in Ireland. 

Another local chap was great in some of our productions with the use of his voic

In my reflection of first seeing Prabhupada,which was in Atlanta, I whipped up this poem:

Oh, how we all loved him
His message was not born from a whim
What enticed was not age or looks
More so the deep content in his books
He was hale and hearty, not frail
When we walked with him on the trail
In the green called Piedmont Park
Winter morning and not dark
I tried to catch a word he’d say
But distance kept the sound at bay
I turned to listen, hit a lamp post
My forehead hurt the most
Frankly my

Based on yesterday’s experience I conjured up this poem - Are You a Monk?

ARE YOU A MONK?

“Are you a monk?” a pedestrian asked
“Yes, I am, I’m not masked
From half a century I’ve been that
And walking has been my format”

What is Streetsville? It is one of those charming early Victorian southern Ontario towns. Streetsville, once a tiny town, is now at the heart of Mississauga, one of the largest urban areas of Canada. Still, Streetsville retains a sweetness. And in the heart of this sweet walkable area, devotees of Mississauga come together every week for a Krishna conscious gathering. The group has three chanting sessions, a pravachan (discourse), and a feast with some of my favourites – avocado and asparagus (

It was an ordinary day in some way at the Nimai Pandit Study Centre. As a guest, I was asked to conduct most of the program in the morning – leading the kirtan chants plus deliver the class. With the assistance of a most reliable Saci Suta, we did something a little different – screened two of my music videos, “Every Guy” and “Stellar Dad.”  I took some time to express to the twenty or so sitting before me young men and four women, the importance of responsible practical life, parenthood, and e

Hiking westbound beyond municipal lights on the road through jungle was risky, but Glen and I took that chance, but it was Shantipriya who had the idea to drive his van at walking pace with headlights on in case we would run into predators. It was the first time in my marathon walking years (which is 30 this year) that I had my support guy right behind me. During this period, the rain came. Glen and I pulled out our umbrellas and undeterred, forged ahead. We made it to a landmark, the Saramacca

Matt Holmes is quite the world traveler who hails from Los Angeles. He is a visitor to Suriname, like myself, and we were on the same plane landing at Paramaribo. I hit it on with him right off the bat. We brought him to the Krishna temple, let him have a taste of a Krishna meal, and drove him to the hostel downtown.

I made more friends at the temple including Anita who was awarded the Sanskrit name Advika, which means ‘Earth’. I was hoping to meet more friends in the form of those adorable s

The storm that challenged our flight’s movement didn’t really get behind us. It was a six-hour nature’s ordeal, which is surely humbling. Moving closer and closer to the Caribbean, and finally Trinidad and Tobago, was relieving. The sky was the most scarlet red that I’ve ever seen. It was a sign that everything is going to be okay. It does, however, cross my mind on every flight I take, especially when the aircraft shakes, “Will this be the journey that will fail?”

We have to keep up our fait